SSX3 The League
by Ravagekd
Summary: The 3rd year of the SSX League is starting...
1. Welcome to the mountain

Disclaimer: Insert the usual stuff about not owning the characters, etc, here. Thank you EA BIG for yet another phenomenal iteration of the SSX universe. Now on with the story   
  
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Some people would say that it was a day just like any other day at the base of the mountain. A brisk morning air hung outside the lodge, with a slight morning mist enveloping whatever it found. You could see the orange sun just beginning to peek out over the ridge and through the pines that lined the snow ledge above the half-pipe. The early morning riders were beginning to appear around the lodge: most were in small groups, two or three at the most, usually with their equipment in one hand and a warm beverage of choice in the other. But for the most part, it was perfect. Another morning on the mountain with a full day of riding ahead of you, the quiet tranquility of a day's fresh start... and really, could you ask for anything more?   
  
As more and more people began arriving at the base of the mountain it became apparent that there was something amiss from the "standard routine", however. While many people were indeed coming to the mountain for a day of hitting the powder, there were far more people showing up without any equipment at all in their hands; and some people were carrying equipment of a very different kind. Further inspection would reveal that these groups of individuals were professional photographers, who had apparently come out to shoot the day's events by the SSX League members.   
  
A young snowboarder stood in front of the lodge near the parking lot, kneeling on one knee in his oversized pants with his board flipped over so that he could give the bottom a fresh waxing before he started his runs for the day. His 'Hot Topic' beanie (with a band's logo on the bottom that only people he would want to talk to anyway would recognize) kept falling down in front of his eyes as he looked down waxing the board, and he kept losing his handling on the board as he tried to readjust the oversized hat that he was beginning to regret wearing. Suddenly he saw something out of the corner of his eye, and he glanced to the parking lot and saw a parade of black SUV limosine's pulling up to the front edge of the parking lot. He paused, one hand moving up slowly to tilt the beanie far enough back on his head that it shouldn't fall again. As the limos pulled to a stop, one of the rear doors opened and he immediately noticed the person who stepped out... Elise Riggs.   
  
Elise stretched herself after stepping down from the limo door, her long arms reaching towards the sky as she arched her back. "God," she thought to herself, "they could have picked a closer hotel to put us up in." The mouth of the young man near the lodge tried not to appear like he was staring as she pushed her chest out, arms up, but the blonde bombshell was one heck of a sight in person. Elise, lowering her arms, seemed to notice him and sent a wink with an amused, knowing smile in his direction. Blushing, realizing he had in fact been caught staring, he quickly put his head down and pretended to be waxing his board again.   
  
More limo doors began to open as the vehicles parked against the curb in a row. Moby had stepped out from the same limo as Elise, his long braids falling just behind his shoulders. Mac appeared hurried as he stepped out of his limo, and he was followed closely by a tall blonde man that was new to the competition this year... an amateur named Viggo who turned pro after he was discovered in the off months of the year by the League. As Mac fumbled to get something from his backpack on the ground, Viggo stood over him asking questions, his hands animated as he spoke. By the looks of Mac, he was doing his best to ignore the persistent newcomer who had obviously been like this the entire ride to the mountain.   
  
As the rest of the limos opened, more new faces appeared. There was also a tough-looking girl with braids sticking out below her beanie, a rugged dark-haired man beside her, and a young (he almost looked TOO young) boy who came out of the same limo as Kaori, a young asian girl many people would recognize. She had been with the league ever since its inception.   
  
"No no no, you keep saying it wrong. 'kao-ri'," she was saying to the boy with her. Griff was young, and perhaps a bit naive when it came to some things, but his proficiency on the slopes was something to behold. "Kay-or-ee," he replied, his mouth contorting as he attempted to pronounce his fellow rider's name. He meant well, but was having difficulty with this girl's strange name. "You're getting better," Kaori lied, at this point tiring of trying to explain just how to say her name to this boy... they had been at this for the past half an hour. "The 'a' and the 'o' kind of blend into each oth-"   
  
"Hey! Hey, Mac, over here!" she suddenly stopped herself, giving Mac a wave and a smile as she spotted him knelt over his backpack beneath Viggo. She and Mac weren't able to talk much over the summers, since she always flew back home and Mac was still being schooled in America over the summer since his parents made him. He had tutors, since his parents were more than fair letting him use the Winters to ride in the League, but he still had to continue his education when he wasn't snowboarding. Kaori had missed Mac for his genuine, if not sometimes teasing, friendship and the ability to always make her laugh, and she was giddy to see him again. Mac breathed a thankful sigh as he recognized an opportunity to escape from the overbearing Viggo, and he quickly looked to see where Kaori's voice was coming from and hefted his bag onto his shoulder. Viggo looked a bit lost for words at first as Mac walked suddenly away from him, but spotted Elise and prepared to move in to try and talk with her.   
  
DJ Atomika stood on the steps that led up to the lodge, surveying the competitors from behind his shades as they stood outside their limos. As the new announcer for the SSX league, he felt nervous yet excited at the same time: much the way the riders felt right now, he imagined. "Alright folks, over here!" he yelled to the group, and the group began to mill their way over to him as they picked up their small bags: mountain staff had begun unloading their riding equipment and miscellaneous luggage from the limos already. A few cameramen stood around snapping pictures of the group and of Atomika standing on the steps, clipboard in hand as he prepared to read a schedule of the day's events to the riders.   
  
"Welcome to the base lodge of the lower peak! I hope you all had a good ride up this morning. Now, I know you haven't seen the courses yet, but I think it's important that you all know: it's taken event organizers over two years to turn this place into the ULTIMATE SSX championship!" he said to the group, and a round of cheers, whistles and clapping came from the riders as well as the group of onlookers that was growing around them. "I know you're all looking forward to this, so let's head on up to the lodge and I'll let the big boys explain how things are gonna work this year, all right?" And with that he turned and led the competitors up the steps, as the crowd behind him parted for the group and clapped again for the people who, as they all knew, were some of the best riders in the entire world.   
  
A day just like any other day? Hardly. And this was only the beginning.   
  
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Alright there ya go. I know it doesn't really go anywhere, but I felt like cutting it off and letting myself stew over where I wanted to really go with things anyway. Critique my writing if you wish, I promise I don't take criticism personally. In fact, criticism tends to be more helpful than praise anyway. (so don't be afraid to do either ) thanks 


	2. Getting to know the courses

DISCLAIMER: Same as before, EA owns SSX and characters and everything else, I just write a story based on the concepts taken from their game with certain "literary freedoms" taken in my interpretations of the people and places otherwise depicted in the game. Now enjoy.   
  
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The group followed Atomika into the lodge through the large double doors, followed by the interested fans and reporters. Moby pulled in a deep breath through his nose, enjoying the familiar scent. It didn't matter if he was back riding the familiar mountains in Europe or here in North America; the natural wood floors and walls of the lodge mixed with the ever-present smell of wet hair and clothes just brought a small smile to his face. It felt like familiar ground, even though he had never been here before.  
  
As they walked, some of the veteran riders were chatting with each other about what they thought this season was going to be like. The new riders, however, were all staring around the room wide-eyed as they took everything in. Nate, the "mountain man" as some called him due to his gruffy appearance, had his mouth hanging slightly open as he looked around at the people surrounding the group. The reality of the situation was really starting to hit home... they were here. This was it. About to compete on a professional level with some of the world's best, whom they had seen on TV for the past 2 years and had always wished they would have a chance to face off against. It was a little overwhelming, to say the least.   
  
A few League workers peeled the onlookers and reporters away from the group as Atomika led the riders into the meeting room. A small stage was at the front of the room, with a half dozen rows of seats set up in stadium-seating style opposite the stage. There were only about 40 seats in total, but this small room was still decked out with wall mounted speakers, a ceiling-hung projector, and 2 screens behind the podium that stood on the stage. Atomika turned and motioned for the riders to take a seat, and they walked past him to do so. Most of them chose to sit by themselves, staggered throughout the room, but the four newest additions to the League roster sat together in the upper row. Mac had ended up choosing a seat behind Elise: he leaned back in his seat and reached his feet out to rest them on the armrest in front of him, but fell off-balance in his chair as Elise's elbow roughly shoved his shoes to the side.   
  
Atomika walked behind the podium as the lights dimmed, the ceiling projector coming to life and displaying a large "SSX" logo across the two screens behind him. Atomika brought his sunglasses down off the top of his head and perched them in front of his eyes to combat the light from the projector that was shining squarely into his face, and he looked around the room for a moment. He smirked slightly when he saw the bunch of new riders grouped together in the top row; since he was brought on board for this year's League, he was as green, and probably as nervous, as they all were. In a way, he wished he could be up there with them. His eyes glanced over at the League officials sitting together in the front row on the left watching him. He had better get to this.   
  
"Again, welcome! Welcome back to those of you who have been in the League, and especially welcome to those of you here for your first time. We hope all of you enjoy what we have in store for you this year; but let's cut to the chase. You're not here to listen to me ramble on, you want to know what's on your plates. We'll just roll some footage from the new courses and that should answer some of your questions." Hitting a button on the remote he picked up off the podium, he moved to the side and a video started playing on the screens.   
  
The video showed an Osprey (a cross between a helicopter and a plane that many of the riders were familiar with riding in from their more exotic backcountry sessions) flying high above a mountain, and the camera zoomed in towards a man-made object jutting out against the natural terrain... a starting gate. Panning down the mountain, the people in the room saw kickers, gates, and trees littering the mountainside. "This here is a shot of Snow Jam, one of the race courses we have this year," Atomika chimed in from the side. The camera stopped to detail an enormous dropoff just above a patch of woods that the trail apparently merged into. "This is pretty mellow compared to some of the other courses."  
  
"Now, this year we're not just going to have race and trick competitions. Which, by the way, the latter of which is being called "slopestyle" over the previous years' fairly blaisé "showoff" title. We're also going to have superpipe competitions where you'll all get to flex your halfpipe muscle and Big Air events where I can guarantee you'll all be catching more air than you have ever had in your lives. Up next we have some shots of one of our slopestyle tracks where you all get to show off the tricks in your bags, R&B." The camera cut to another mountain face, absolutely peppered with rails. "Holy crap," Mac muttered under his breath: Elise heard him and nodded slowly in agreement. Even the ice queen herself was stunned by the track; it seemed like there wasn't even a solid line down the course where you wouldn't bump into half a dozen rails. Tricks had never been Elise's strongest point, altho she was certainly better than most since she was here in the League after all. But here in the past, she had dominated the race events and been able to at least hold her own in showoff. Something like R&B was sure to cause her some trouble this season.   
  
"And," Atomika continued, "here's just a few snippets of some of the other courses up here on the mountain." Lightning flashed on the screen and the camera was suddenly racing above a woodsy course with high arching turns and green rails scattered among many of the trail edges. Cut to another scene of a raging blizzard enveloping a starting gate on what appeared to be the peak of one of the three mountains here. Cut again to a shot taken high above skyscrapers, with snow-covered paths cutting between the buildings. "Hey, it's Merqury City!" exclaimed Griff from the back of the room as he sat up in his seat, obviously excited to see a course he recognized from watching the League on TV the past two years. "Not quite," smiled Atomika. "This here's Metro City, and I promise you it will be much different than what you all are used to from back in Merq." Griff sat back in his seat, obviously disappointed that he wouldn't be able to ride at Merqury City. That had always been one of his favorite courses to see the riders on.   
  
The screen showed one more shot, the camera rising slowly up what appeared to be the third and highest peak on the mountain. The powder covered every inch that wasn't a large rockface, and the scene was more stunning than any of the riders in the room had seen in their collective experiences. Off to the side of the screen, a large chunk of snow suddenly fell away from the mountain, revealing the large chasm that the chunk of ice had only moments ago been suspended above.   
  
"Avalanches? We're going to be riding with AVALANCHES on the mountain?!" exclaimed the until-now quiet Zoe. Her tough exterior led most opponents to fear her, but the sudden revelation of what appeared to be an unstable mountain obviously had disturbed even her. "Oh, don't worry. The course officials promise that they won't get in your way during the events... much," Atomika winked at her. His words weren't much comfort, however, and she slouched back into her seat with her arms across her chest and a stone, determined look on her face..   
  
The movie ended, the lights came back up and the group squinted in the suddenly brightly lit room. "So, are there any questions?" Atomika asked as he approached the podium again. "Yeah," Allegra raised her hand from the back of the room, a grin reaching from pigtail to pigtail that hung down from under her beanie on either side of her face. "When do we start?"  
  
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Bleh, I'm sorry about no action still after part 2, but I hope you're all at least still enjoying this. I enjoyed writing this part, giving a touch more insight into some of my interpretations of the riders and going over how anyone might feel if they were confronted with these courses. I promise, next chapter will have some action in it. :) But I've been trying to really give the feeling of being involved in the story, and trying to push things too fast isn't something I wanted to do. As always, comments both positive and negative are welcome :) Thanks for reading this 


	3. And they're off!

DISCLAIMER: There's only so many ways I can NOT claim ownership of these characters or anything else otherwise depicted in the SSX games created by Electronic Arts. I just write! hehe. On with the story  
  
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The air of excitement was hard to escape. The day had finally come, the first event of this year's League, and there wasn't a single person on the mountain who didn't know this fact. Since first arriving for their meeting with Atomika, the riders had all been allowed to warm up the past few days on the mountain but, much to all of their chagrin, they had been told that they wouldn't be allowed to race any of the competition tracks until the League officially started. Zoe in particular hadn't been too happy with this news, wondering how they were going to be expected to race well without knowing a single thing about the courses. "Just point yourself downhill and you should be fine," was the response from the smiling Atomika. Zoe had just scowled and muttered to herself under her breath, altho the nearby Psymon thought he overheard something about "avalanches" and "courses probably aren't even ready". At least the first event would be on Snow Jam, one of the courses they had seen shots of during the video presentation.   
  
Elevated stands lined portions of the track, and each section was filled to capacity with fans eagerly waiting to see the riders of the year. Merchants you usually saw at football and baseball games walked up and down the ailes selling beer, hot cocoa, and popcorn to the crowd as they waited for the day's events to get underway. The League officials had decided it would be a good idea to put the four new riders in the first heat with two other veterans, so this was a way for the public to see all of the fresh blood in action.   
  
At the top of the course, the six riders selected for the first heat were stretching and getting into their bindings. Music swelled up the mountain from the speakers that lined the course below. The sounds of cowbells and cheering fans were barely audible from up here, but were deafening to those in the stands close to the source. Elise and Zoe had been chosen to be the veteran riders of this race, and were on either end of the line almost as human bookends of the newbies. Next to Zoe was Nate, followed by the ever-flamboyant Viggo who was performing one stretch that made him look even more effeminate than usual; then Allegra, and finally Griff next to Elise. Elise was stretching in her starting gate, squatting with her arms extended in front of her, as Griff cruised up into his gate beside her.   
  
"Hey ElEEEEEEEEEEEse," said Griff, who quickly cut himself off as his pre-teen voice cracked on him. He was obviously nervous at his first race here in the League. Elise did a good job choking down a chuckle in front of the boy, but a few starting slots away Nate and Viggo were howling with laughter. "EEEEEEE," squeaked Viggo, and Nate bent over laughing at the impression. Griff's face flushed crimson as he stared down the mountain. It wasn't his fault he was so much younger than everyone else. Allegra simply sighed and turned to the two, "Oh, grow UP you guys."  
  
"Gr-grow up?" gasped Nate. "It sounds like our little Griff is doing that right now!" and he began laughing again even harder than before. Viggo was rocking back and forth as he convulsed with laughter, wiping a tear from his eye from the force of his guffaws. Zoe popped out of her bindings and walked the few short paces behind Nate. "She said shut it, ass!" and with a quick shove sent Nate off balance and he fell face first into the snow. Viggo started to laugh harder, but quickly forced himself to regain his composure as Zoe took another step in his direction with her right arm cocking a punch.  
  
"Riders, take your starts!" the official at the top of the hill called through his megaphone, and the group turned their focus back on the race that was about to begin. The lights suspended horizontally twenty feet above and ahead of the group glowed red: the riders all grabbed the handrails on either side of theit gates and lowered into position. Yellow... fingers adjusted on the grips, boards began to rock back and forth for momentum out of the gate. Yellow again, just one second to go. Griff's hands tightened on his grips and he slid his board backwards one last time. The light turned green and with a collective heave the riders were out of the gates!  
  
The beginning of a race was always the hardest part. There wasn't much room to maneuver, and oftentimes the entire race could be won and lost depending on who led the pack right at the beginning. Allegra tucked herself low with her hands pulled to the small of her back. She led Viggo, but was trying to stay far enough to the side of Griff that he wouldn't cause her any problems. He, however, seemed to be more concerned with Elise, who with her height posed more of a physical threat to his wellbeing should they collide.   
  
On the other side of the pack, Nate and Viggo were already heating up. Each rider kept swerving slightly towards the other, playing a parallel game of chicken as they tried to psych the other one out and cause him to swerve out of the way of a potential crash. Zoe was slightly behind and to the left of the two, watching their little duel. She smiled to herself, tucked in low and angled towards Nate whose back was currently to her. As she began to pull alongside, her right arm crossed her body and came back to catch Nate squarely in the jaw. The move caught him completely off guard since his attention had been focused on Viggo, and he tumbled into the snow. "God damn it, bitch!" he yelled as he quickly tried to push himself upright again. "Why don't you 'grow up', Nate?" Zoe yelled back at him, an evil smile on her face. Griff heard the comment and quickly glanced her way with a smile on his face, and she returned it with a thumbs up sign.   
  
"Now show me what you got, kid!" Zoe yelled as the pack approached the first jump and she threw herself into the air for a Misty flip, reaching low and back through her legs to grab the board. Griff squinted his eyes in determination and followed suit on the other side of the ledge, opting for a 720 spin as he popped one of his boots out of his bindings and hung his free leg out to the side. As he finished his rotation he pulled his leg back and placed his foot back in his binding: the step-in bindings made their satisflying "click" as his board hit the snow and pushed up against his boot. "Nice!" yelled Zoe and Griff grinned again. This was quite possibly the best day of his life.  
  
The wind rushed in the face of the riders as the pack continued to make its way downhill. Elise led the pack, her long blonde ponytail whipping this way and that behind her head. "Ahh," she thought to herself, "It's nice to have long hair again." After cutting her hair for a modelling shoot before last season, it felt good to feel the wind flowing over her long blonde locks again. It was a good thing her hair always grew quickly in the summer weather. Atomika's voice boomed across the course as he commentated the race, "Elise Riggs is currently holding first place folks! Not too much surprise there, that gal's shown herself time and again to be a true speed queen!"  
  
"'Gal'?" Nate thought to himself from the back of the pack. "I bet he's gonna hear about that one later from Ice-zilla herself." He focused on the next jump ahead of him, and his eyes picked up a log lying to the side of the dropoff. "Well, nothing to lose," he thought to himself, and quickly brought the nose of his board around towards the wooden pseudo-rail. A small ollie later and he found himself riding the log away from the main path and flying out over an 80 foot dropoff that he hadn't been expecting. A quick yelp escaped his lips as his arms flailed: his balance had been off center and he was falling into a prone position. It was time for desperate measures... Nate pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned even further back, forcing himself to come all the way around before the ground rushed up to meet him. Just at the last second his board came out from above his head and he brought his board to heel edge to swerve away from the otherwise oncoming rock face straight ahead.   
  
Elise had seen Nate come sailing from above her, watching as he miraculously saved himself from a situation that easily could have given him a broken neck. Unfortunately she was uphill of where Nate was flying to, and her line was almost directly going to put her where he was going to land. She didn't expect that experience to be pleasant for either of them. She curved to the right side of the track, determined not to lose any speed by slowing down just so she wouldn't crash into him. Her plan worked, and Nate landed just to her side and slightly ahead of her, but he quickly dug in an edge since he was flying perpindicular to the course's path. With a six foot high rooster tail of snow, Elise was eating the frozen plume coming from the bottom of Nate's board. She yelled as her arms went to cover her face, but her eyes were forced shut and she caught an edge when she lost her concentration, tumbling shortly off the side of the trail.   
  
"Sorry about that!" Nate yelled behind him, but the grin that emerged from within his 3-day stubble said otherwise. Sure, he would have been sorry if he had crashed into her. He wasn't sorry to suddenly take the lead from her though, and a faceful of snow just made that move all the more comical to him. Nate had always admired Elise when he had watched her on TV during the past two seasons, admired her speed and the way she handled herself both on and off the course. But he thought she was perhaps a little too arrogant and could probably stand to be brought down a peg or two.   
  
Back in the powder off the side of the trail, Elise pulled herself up and pushed herself back onto the main path with the rest of the riders chasing the new pack leader. "And Nate Logan takes the lead with an amazing move to cut out a huge corner of track!" yelled Atomika again through the course speakers. "But they're only a quarter of the way down the mountain folks, still a lot of race ahead of us. And anything can happen when these riders hit the woods!"   
  
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I know I portrayed Zoe a little "nicer" than many people might think of her, but you have to believe that she's still a good gal beneath the tough-chick exterior and I felt like showing a little of that through her standing up for Griff. Ok folks, you wanted action and you got a taste. :) This chapter was originally shorter, shorter than the previous two in fact, but I felt I wasnt giving nearly enough action for those who have been waiting patiently so I appended the section with Nate & Elise. Next chapter we see what happens during the rest of the race! Stay tuned 


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